What a joy it is to be present at the birth of a new franchise! Like human birth, it’s messy and emotional and full of promise. And as long as there are no problems with the delivery, it’s a fresh start. Failure lies in the future, if it lies anywhere.

That’s the feeling I got watching Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s not perfect, and it runs a little long, and it features far too many bad guys, and it sometimes feels like it wants to be all things to all people. Oh, and it’s trying too hard to emulate its elders — the only film with more Star Wars references is probably The Empire Strikes Back. (Though is it homage or merely branding when the same megacorp owns both film series?)

Regardless, it’s clear that the proud parents — writer Nicole Perlman and writer-director James Gunn, with surrogate help from the original comic book writers, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning — are pleased as punch and happy to show off their offspring.

And darned if the little tyke doesn’t have a scrappy insouciance that’s all its own. Science-fiction franchises have given us some pretty crazy McGuffins of late, including The Seed (Transformers), The AllSpark (also Transformers) The Aether (Thor: The Dark World) and The Tesseract (The Avengers). This one has The Orb, an all-powerful globe about the size of an autographed Babe Ruth baseball, and just as coveted. But Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is quick to note that the whole thing has an Ark of the Covenant/Maltese Falcon feel to it. People want it because they want it.

But that’s good enough for Quill, who also goes by the name Star-Lord when he can get people to use it. Quill is one of those outer-space privateer/adventurers who keep spaceship body shops and a few even less reputable establishments in business. After a prelude that shows young Quill being abducted from Earth in 1988, we cut to present-day planet Morag, one of a dizzying number of locations that includes Coruscant-look-alike Xander, and a place called Knowhere that’s been carved out of the brain of a deceased space giant.

Quill’s after The Orb, which he intends to sell to The Broker (Christopher Fairbank), who in turn will pass it on to The Collector, played by Benicio Del Toro in a Don King wig. We should be thankful for such succinct names, but it beggars belief that in a galaxy with a population that must number in the trillions, there’s only one guy named The Broker.

Then again, Guardians gives us numerous convenient shorthand titles, including Ronan the Accuser (though I think Ronan the Inculpater sounds more badass) and Drax the Destroyer. The former is one of the more evil Orb-seekers in the movie, while the latter is a criminal who joins Quill while remaining on the hunt for Thanos, who is so wicked he doesn’t need to be called “the” anything.

You’ll need a program book (or a comic book) or even an org chart to keep up with the web of heroes and villains in this latest Marvel concoction, and may Asgard help us if the Guardians and the Avengers should ever collide. On the side of the angels (relatively speaking), in addition to Peter and Drax (wrestler Dave Bautista), there’s Zoe Saldana (Star Trek, Avatar) as the green-skinned assassin Gamora, and Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, a walking treeoid whose bark is — oh, never mind.

Diesel also provides the voice of Groot in the French-Canadian dub of the movie, which sounds less impressive when you realize that all he ever says is “Je suis Groot.” But like Chewbacca and Han Solo, Groot’s growls are instantly understood by Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper), a genetically engineered creature with a genius IQ, opposable thumbs, a surly temperament and kleptomania. Or as they’re known on this planet, raccoons.

Quill holds the group together through sheer force of personality. Like his Star-Lord moniker, he seems to think that anything repeated enough times becomes true. And since he hasn’t been home in 26 years, he’s blissfully unaware that a Sony Walkman playing The Piña Colada Song is no longer the epitome of cool.

The group’s theft of The Orb and subsequent hightailing across the galaxy is brainless fun, even if the movie doesn’t so much end as slip out the back door with a promise to return. Thus have comic-book movies become like the comic books themselves, serials whose only goal is to hook the viewer into shelling out for the next instalment.

Count Guardians as a roaring success on that score. When Quill and company return (on July 28, 2017, I’m guessing) I’ll be keen to see what nuttiness they get up to next.

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